The CIA says scenes of torture in the new film 'Zero Dark Thirty' are not an accurate portrayal of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. This follows similar criticism from three senior US senators who say the film is 'grossly inaccurate and misleading'.

In an unusual letter to CIA employees, the agency’s acting director Michael Morrell says the controversial Hollywood film “Zero Dark Thirty” takes “significant artistic license” with the years-long hunt that led to Navy SEALs killing terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and is “not a realistic portrayal of the facts.”

“Regardless of what message the filmmakers intended to convey, the movie clearly implies that the CIA’s coercive interrogation techniques were effective in eliciting important information related to a courier for Osama bin Laden,” the senators wrote. “We have reviewed CIA records and know that this is incorrect.”